Practical Intelligence and the Virtues

Daniel C. Russell

The only book-length treatment of practical intelligence currently available in modern philosophical literature.

The most thorough discussion of situationism and social psychology offered by a virtue theorist to date.

Sure to be controversial, arguing that recent ambivalence towards practical intelligence is deadly for virtue theory.

Practical Intelligence and the Virtues

Daniel C. Russell

Description

One of the most important developments in modern moral philosophy is the resurgence of interest in the virtues. In this new book, Daniel Russell explores two important hopes for such an approach to moral thought: that starting from the virtues should cast light on what makes an action right, and that notions like character, virtue, and vice should yield a plausible picture of human psychology. Russell argues that the key to each of these hopes is an understanding of the cognitive and deliberative skills involved in the virtues. If right action is defined in terms of acting generously or kindly, then these virtues must involve skills for determining what the kind or generous thing to do would be on a given occasion. Likewise, Russell argues that understanding virtuous
action as the intelligent pursuit of virtuous goals yields a promising picture of the psychology of virtue. This book develops an Aristotelian account of the virtue of practical intelligence or "phronesis"--an excellence of deliberating and making choices--which Russell argues is a necessary part of every virtue. This emphasis on the roots of the virtues in the practical intellect contrasts with ambivalence about the practical intellect in much recent work on the virtues--a trend Russell argues is ultimately perilous for virtue theory. This book also takes a penetrating look at issues like the unity of the virtues, responsibility for character, and that elusive figure, 'the virtuous person'. Written in a clear and careful manner, Practical Intelligence and the Virtues will appeal to
philosophers and students alike in moral philosophy and moral psychology.

Practical Intelligence and the Virtues

Daniel C. Russell

Author Information

Daniel Russell (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 2000) is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wichita State University, Kansas. His main research and teaching interests lie in ancient philosophy, ethics, and political philosophy. He is the author of Plato on Pleasure and the Good Life (Oxford, 2005), and is currently completing a book on the relation of virtue to happiness, bridging ancient and modern perspectives.